Mona Lisa
by gina271
Summary: After a heartbreaking divorce, Haley James has lost all faith in the universe. But in the wake of a broken heart, can her son's peewee basketball coach help her pick up the pieces? Naley, Brucas, Jeyton
1. Chapter 1

**_An: I must be out of my freaking mind to start posting this two weeks before my finals, but I've never had much use for sanity. I may be a twidge impatient! This is my first story so thoughts and comments are so wonderfully appreciated you have no idea._**

**_The title of this story comes from the song 'Mona Lisa' by All American Rejects. I do love it more than most things and if you want to give it a quick listen, it will help you get a feel for the story._**

**_Now, I will bring up my own little doubt about this story-Haley was married to Damien West in it. Now, Haley is a smart gal, and smart gals don't usually marry complete jackass losers-but I wanted her ex to be a jerk and he seemed like as good a pick as any. Please suspend the disbelief, for me, please. If you could see, I would be giving you my very best puppy-eyes which arguably aren't great, but serve my purpose just as well._**

**_I'm the only person who has ever read this, so if I made some mucho grande errors, let me know. I handle criticism well if I do say so myself, so really, you can be honest-I like honesty :)_**

**_Eh? What else? Oooh! I don't own One Tree Hill! I'm pretty sure no one thought for a moment I did, but in case you were some how mistaken, I'm glad I could clear that up. _**

**_Sorry, this has been the mother of all author's notes, but I, like unto my favorite OTH character, ramble like its going out of style. I'll be sure to make my AN's stand out so that you know where you can skip to to avoid the pointlessness of the entire beast._**

Chapter One

_Damien West, I hope that she was worth tearing our family apart. _Haley thought to herself as she took in a sharp, ragged breath of the cold November air, watching the moving truck fade out view. It wasn't supposed to be like this. Ten years ago had someone told her that she'd be in this position she would've laughed in their face. Granted, she'd only be fourteen and thus would still be shrouded with the teenage feelings of invincibility, but she would've never believed that her sensible self would be just another statistic. But here she was; a mother at eighteen and an ex-wife at twenty-three. Hell, she never thought that she'd be an ex-wife period and now she'd done it younger than anyone she'd ever known. There didn't seem to be any justice in life at the moment.

When she had found out that she was pregnant right before graduating high school, she'd done the responsible thing. She married Damien despite the fact that they'd only really been dating a few months in order to ensure that her son had as normal of a life as possible. Haley sacrificed Stanford so that she could go with him to Ohio State where he had gotten a full ride scholarship playing basketball. She hadn't seen it as a sacrifice then, it was more an investment in their future. And when she held her son Jamie for the first time, she was filled with the knowledge that it had been the right decision. Regardless of the complexity of the situation, she felt in her heart that she was meant to have Jamie. That Jamie, Damien and she were supposed to be a family.

The first three or four years of her marriage to Damien were good. Their marriage had never been perfect but she knew better than to expect that. There was only so much you could hope for when you were marching down the aisle six-months pregnant. In a world without Jamie, Haley was almost certain that she wouldn't have ended up with Damien. They got along well enough; but Haley had always known that while she loved her husband very deeply, she wasn't really _in_ love with him in the beginning. It had taken some time, but she did fall in love with him eventually. At least she had assumed as much, never really having anything else to compare it to. Damien had been the first boy she had ever wanted to fall in love with. In retrospect it was easy to see that the most she felt for him in the early days was merely infatuation, but at the time it had been enough to convince her that she and Damien could be perfectly happy together. They both loved Jamie and cared enough about each other, why wouldn't it work? What she hadn't counted on was him falling in love with someone else.

Claire Young.

_Stupid whore. _Haley thought bitterly before mentally chiding herself. Claire was going to be Jamie's step mother soon; she would have to start being a little more kind about the two-faced wretch.

When she and Damien had graduated from college they had moved their little family to Boston where he had gotten a job offer. She could teach high school English anywhere, and she'd do just about anything to keep her family together. The irony was that Boston would be the end of her relationship as she knew it. Within the first week of moving there, Damien had met Claire, an associate at the advertising firm he had just started at. Before Haley knew it, Damien was spending a lot of time with Claire. She always had a few jealous thoughts in the back of her head, but she was never really suspicious. Haley and Damien had been raised in Bear Creek, North Carolina; they had good, old-fashioned values, barring the whole baby out of wedlock thing. Never in her mind would she actually believe she had anything to worry about. That was until things suddenly started to change. Damien started working out of town a lot. On the rare occasion he was home he was always getting strange phone calls late at night that he would have to take. Whenever Haley would run into Claire anywhere it was suddenly very tense, like the other woman saw her as a rival. Those all should have been signs, she saw so many now, but what it really took for her to realize it was Damien packing a bag and telling her he wanted a divorce. She had been blindsided and devastated.

"Its okay Haley, you've got this. You're a good mom and you've got this." Haley muttered to herself quietly as she shook herself from her thoughts. She turned on the sidewalk from where she was standing and headed back inside her small home. She and Damien had now been divorced for six months and separated more than a year. At first, Haley had promised herself that she would stay in Boston for the sake of keeping things stable for Jamie, but time had more than proved to her that no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't protect him from his father's decision. He still had to spend time with his father and his father's new fiancé. In her heart she knew that it was just time to move on, that she really didn't belong there, and so when her parent's asked if she and Jamie wanted to move in with them, she said yes. She had no reason for staying here. Damien had been pissed when she first told him, but he relented when she brought up that Jamie would be closer to both sets of his grandparents and that he could see Jamie whenever he wanted.

She opened the front door and plastered a smile on her face. It was time for her to be Jamie's mother, which meant that she couldn't afford to be a bitter wreck.

"Alright, we are all set." Haley sighed as she made her way to the living room. There she saw Quinn and Jamie playing twister, while her brother-in-law Clay manned the spinner. "By this time tomorrow we will be on our way to Tree Hill."

"Living with Mom and Dad," Quinn responded with a smile, shaking slightly from twisted position. Haley couldn't help but smile. Somehow Quinn was doing a backbend with Jamie was oddly positioned between her legs. "Good luck with that one Haley Bop."

"It won't be that bad." Haley said, but Clay just shook his head.

"Be sure to knock before going into each room. Last Christmas when we were down visiting, I totally walked in on your parents on the kitchen table…you know…_playing twister._" Clay wiggled his eyebrows for emphasis, as if Haley and Quinn missed out on the euphemism.

"Gross." Quinn shuddered.

"Why aren't Grandma and Grandpa allowed to play twister?" Jamie inquired curiously. Haley's eyes widened with panic—she never knew what to do in situations like this. Should she explain the birds and bee's to Jamie? No! He was only five, she couldn't do that now. Her only option was distraction.

"No reason." She played off nonchalantly, though she was sure she wasn't doing a very good job because she could hear Quinn and Clay try to fight back the on-coming laughter. "What fun things do you want to do when we get to Tree Hill?"

"Can we go to the beach after we get there?" Jamie asked hopefully, turning on the puppy/baby seal eyes.

"Baby, its November." Haley smiled as she leaned against the door frame. "Besides, after the drive the next two days you are going to be so tired you'll want a nap."

"No I won't. Only babies take naps." Jamie huffed causing Haley to laugh to herself. Of course that's what Jamie got out of this. At five years old, her son thought of himself as quite the man's man. Little did he know that he was going to be her little boy forever, she was going to make sure of it.

"Clay will you spin the stupid thing?" Quinn panted, interrupting Haley's thoughts. "I'm starting to cramp."

"Come on Quinn, it'll make you ripped. You know how I like a woman with some muscle." Clay teased good naturedly from his spot on the empty floor as he spun the colored spinner. Clay and Quinn had been her saving grace this last year. Today while she finished up packing up all the boxes and making sure everything got moved, they had taken it upon themselves to help her by watching Jamie. She honestly didn't know what she would've done without them. "Left foot blue,"

"No." Quinn groaned before putting herself in some odd yoga position while Jamie only had shift slightly beneath her. "Why are we playing this again?"

"Because it was this or operation and we've lost all the pieces to that game." Clay replied simply.

"Well you guys keep having fun and I'll go order us a pizza." Haley said as she whipped out her cell phone and dialed the number from some flier that had ended up in her mail box. She ordered quickly before walking out of the room to survey the damage of her now empty house. She took a look at her kitchen and felt a small pang in her chest. It held so many memories for her, some good, and some not so much. This was kitchen where and Damien had once slow danced after putting Jamie to sleep, this was the kitchen from where she would watch Jamie as he would play in their backyard. This also happened to be the kitchen where she had signed the divorce papers, but she didn't want to think about that. Life was going to be different from now on; she didn't really feel like holding onto the resentment she felt. Haley knew that she would never be entirely at peace with the way her marriage ended, but she didn't really have a choice. What was done was done.

"How you feeling Haley Bop?" Quinn asked quietly as she took a seat next to her on the front porch. It was late now, Haley didn't know what time for sure but she assumed that it was sometime after eleven. After the pizza had arrived and they had all eaten, she had just felt the need to be alone with her memories. Tomorrow would bring a lot of changes, and as much as she was ready for them, she dreaded them the same.

"Lost," Haley answered honestly, giving her sister a glib smile. She pulled the red, knitted afghan she was cuddled in a little closer. She was sure that she looked like a mess right now; her hair was in what started out as a bun, but now had half of her hair falling out of its back. She had gone on a crying jag a few minutes earlier so she was sure her brown eyes were blood shot and her face puffy and tear-streaked. "Is Jamie sleeping?"

Quinn nodded softly. "Clay is in there with him. You should've heard him Hales, he thinks camping out in his own house is the coolest thing he's ever done. He wanted to know why he couldn't sleep on the floor every night."

"Figures that my kid would be an optimist," Haley smiled as she blew a small section of her now chocolate brown hair out of her face. Her hair had always been blond up until a few months ago when her sister Quinn had convinced her that in the wake of divorce, changing up a few things up might make starting over feel more like an adventure than a tragedy. Her hair went brown, her clothes got a little classier but it really never changed the nature of the beast. She didn't want this; she didn't want her son being raised in a broken home.

"Why shouldn't he be? He's got the best mom in the world watching out for him." Quinn said, putting her arms around her sister and pulling her in for a hug. "I am so proud of you."

"What for, sucking at marriage? Moving back in with Mom and Dad? Barely being able to support myself?" Haley asked sarcastically as she laid her head on Quinn's shoulder.

"No." Quinn replied seriously. "I'm so proud of you for daring to think that your life could be different." She pulled Haley even tighter to which Haley could hardly complain. Though she had never been a touchy person, there was something very reassuring about being held by her sister that infused her with just enough hope to get by.

"I know that he isn't going to come back to me." Haley admitted softly after a quiet moment. "But I don't know, this all just feels like I'm some how giving up on us."

"No, he gave up on you the second that he left you for that fat sack of plastic! He doesn't deserve you Haley."

"You know, everybody says that, but it doesn't change the fact he's Jamie's dad. It doesn't change the fact that I feel like I've had my heart ripped out."

"You could always move on." Quinn prodded delicately. "There could be someone else who—"

"That's not going to happen." Haley interjected quickly. She really didn't feel like hearing this. Was there some unwritten rule that when someone got divorced, the people around them were required to tell them how there was someone else out there? Haley didn't buy it, even if she were to fall in love again, she didn't know if love was enough to withstand anything. She saw Quinn and Clay and she truly believed that they would be in it for the long haul; she just didn't have that same faith in herself.

"Well I hope your wrong," Quinn whispered. "And I think you are too but that might just be the patented James woman stubbornness coming out."

"James women, stubborn? Please." Haley laughed as Quinn giggled in response.

"Did I tell you what I did to Clay the other day?" Haley shook her head. "Dude, I'm totally crazy—"

"Why do I get the feeling that this has to do with toaster pastries?" Haley teased as Quinn shot her an agitated look.

"Because it does! Anyway he ate the last one and I…I just lost it. I ran to the bathroom and locked myself in our bathroom, which sucked for him 'cause we only have the one and he had drank a lot of coffee that day. Seriously, I wouldn't get out until he promised me the rights to the last pastry in the box for as long as we both shall live. Personally I feel like that should have just been in our wedding vows, but then we eloped so, what can you do?"

"Ah Quinny, you're insane." Haley cooed with a smile.

"Whatever, this same crazy that lives in me lives in you," Quinn retorted, finally letting Haley out of their long held hug. "If Mom and Dad drive you insane, come back here, and you can live with me and Clay."

"Well let's hope it doesn't come to that. Clay would never get a minute to himself. Jamie thinks the guy walks on water." Haley told her sister seriously. "You married a good one."

"Thanks. I wish you had too." Quinn said, matching Haley's serious tone. Haley didn't mind that Quinn made it very apparent that she disliked Damien. This wasn't a recent development; Quinn had never really cared for Damien. But that was the beauty of Quinn, even though she knew Haley was making a mistake when she had decided to marry Damien, she stood by her anyway. Haley couldn't help but admire that. "Better luck next time."

"Quinn." Haley reprimanded, her eyebrow raised as she gave her sister the perfected 'I'm a mother don't mess with me' look.

"Just sayin'," Quinn held up her hands innocently in surrender. "Who knows, maybe Tree Hill is the home of your next husband."

"Yeah right," Haley rolled her eyes. What on earth could possibly happen in Tree Hill?

"Please Haley James—I mean, West or is it—What the hell is your last name?" Quinn asked in confusion, apparently debating the issue in her mind.

"Its still West but I'm going back to my maiden name when I go to Tree Hill." Haley informed her sister. "I won't lie though; it's a bitch to introduce myself to people."

"Well be sure to use Haley James West for any hot men. I read once in a book—"

Haley gave her sister a look to tell her to get real.

"Fine it was a magazine."

Haley's face didn't change at all. Something in Quinn's story didn't add up, Quinn didn't read. Haley was fairly certain that her sister could read, she had to somehow be able to decipher the labels on toaster pastries, but that could just be that someone had taught Quinn what to look for on the boxes.

"Okay, I heard it on the radio, happy?" Quinn huffed before continuing. "Apparently girls with three names are just naturally hot. This is your chance to be a three-named girl. Don't abuse it." Quinn's eyes were bright and excited; Haley knew she had to reel her sister in before she got any big ideas.

"As lovely as that sounds Quinn, I don't need to be hot, 'cause I don't plan on dating ever again." Haley said seriously, tapping her sister on the nose. "Okay?"

"Fine," Quinn grumbled before recovering in record time and giving Haley a challenging smile. "You're just lucky that I doubt you have will power, because if not, I'd be going into crazy, older sister, meddler mode and you'd be married by the end of the year. And your husband would be vowing to you the damn pastries, unlike Clay."

"Dream on Quinn. Dream on." Haley laughed finally. It was a good thing she was moving; at least she'd get away from Quinn trying to force her back down the aisle. Now she was going to be exchanging one form of crazy for another, because living with her parents was bound to be the adventure of a lifetime.

_**An: So reviewing entices good Karma, which we could all use a little bit more of so let me know what your thoughts. I'll be honest-this isn't my favorite chapter of this story so if the intro was a bit too slow for your tastes, come back in a few chapters and see if you like the increased speed a bit better.**_


	2. Chapter 2

_**AN/ Alright, sorry that this took a little while. I told you I was crazy for starting the story when I did! Luckily for you, I'm all set so I can update next week too despite the fact that its finals. After that, I'm yours until January!**_

_**Thanks so much to those of you have alerted, read and reviewed. I love you, and I'm pretty sure those karma gods do too! If you want to review this chapter, it might make me update faster. I am known to do crazy things for the sake of approval.**_

_**And for the sake of full disclosure, Nathan is the highschool coach too. Yes, I also know that this happens in stories all the time so I have no misconceptions that I somehow came up with that, but I love it and fully plan to use it to this story's advantage. THANKS FOR READING.**_

Chapter Two

"Everybody have fun tonight, everybody Wang Chung tonight—" Haley sang along to herself as she passed through the city limits. She was almost home—home being a relative term because she'd only actually ever been here a handful of times and that was because her mother had been the librarian at one of the local elementary schools for as long as Haley could remember. Her parents had moved here earlier this year because with her dad retired, there was no reason for her mom to have to drive forty-five minutes to work. Though everything looked vaguely familiar, it had still been a good six or seven years since she had last stepped foot in Tree Hill, North Carolina.

She smiled as she glanced at her son in the backseat; the kid was out like a light. They had left Boston early yesterday morning. At first Jamie was a ball of energy, wondering when they'd be there every fifteen minutes, never listening when Haley tried to explain that it was almost seven hundred miles away and that it would take them all day plus some of the next. Haley had to hand it to his persistence, the kid managed to stay awake for the majority of it. By the time they had stopped to spend the night in Baltimore, Jamie had been dead on his feet. She was proud of him too, he had been really good on this little road trip considering the fact that this really was a long time to keep a kid whose five cooped up in a car. Haley felt her body swell in relief, it had taken a couple tanks of gas, two days, almost sixteen hours of driving, what felt like a million bathroom stops, one mother of a traffic jam and probably three gallons of coffee, but they were finally here.

Haley surveyed the town interestedly, seeing the ins and outs of her new home. There were tiny café's, old style hardware stores, rare book stores—every kind of establishment that made Tree Hill seem untouched by franchises and superstores that were creeping up in small towns everywhere . For the most part, it felt similar to Bear Creek. Homey, small town feel, but showed the signs of recent growth. She was happy to be back in a southern town; she had liked Boston well enough but it always felt a bit too big to really feel like she belonged there, Haley hoped that Tree Hill would be different.

Her father had given her almost patronizingly simple driving directions, so she found her parent's new house without much difficulty. It didn't hurt that she could a couple of her boxes still littering their front porch. She pulled into the driveway and prepared herself to start life over again. This would be the last moment before she really became a Tree Hill resident. She took in a deep breath while she put a smile on her face. This was her life now, she just needed to accept it and move on. She turned around and shook Jamie slightly on the knee. "Baby, we're here."

Jamie didn't even stir, he was still sleeping like a rock. She opened her car door and walked to open his. She gently manipulated his arms out of the straps of his seat belt before scooping him up in her arms and carrying him to the front door. Her heart felt a little pang, Jamie was growing like a weed and soon she wouldn't be able to hold him like this anymore. The thought hurt her, but before she could reflect anymore on the matter, the front door of her parent's home flew opened and her mother let out an unrelenting squeal.

"Haleybop! You're finally here!" Her mother shouted excitedly as she ran to greet her daughter. Haley smiled as she saw her mother, knowing that for some reason, it never felt like her mother changed. Lydia James had medium length, light brown hair and was wearing a green ,button-shirt that had short sleeves, it was very motherly and went along with her high-waist jeans. That was something Haley loved about her mom—she just looked like a mom, no matter how you sliced it.

"Hi Mom," Haley greeted, meeting her mother in the middle of the lawn. Lydia wasted no time throwing her arms around Haley and Jamie.

"I'm so glad you've made it. We've been so worried about you." Lydia said soothingly as she rubbed small circles on Haley's back.

"It was just a drive, nothing to worry about." Haley reassured her mom, even though in the back of her mind, she knew the drive wasn't what Lydia was worried about. No one would ever admit to it of course, except Quinn or her sister Taylor on occasion, but her entire family was walking on eggshells around her, like they expected her to fall apart at any minute. Haley desperately wanted to talk about something else. "Where's Dad?"

"He went go pick us all up some dinner. He should be back any minute." Her mother pulled away just enough to get a good look at her. Haley didn't know if she liked being surveyed, so she smiled uncomfortably in response.

"You're a beautiful woman Haley." Lydia said finally, causing Haley fight back a skeptical laugh. She was sure she was hardly a picture at the moment, she had been driving all day so the jeans and yellow t-shirt she was wearing were all sorts of wrinkled, her hair was in a haphazard ponytail that depended on about ten bobby pins to keep it out of her face and she hadn't even bothered to put on makeup today. If she kept looking like this, Quinn would definitely be wrong about her being able to move on.

"Thanks Mom." Haley said after a minute, finally just deciding to take the compliment though she didn't believe it. "Can I see the new house?"

"Oh sure Baby, mi case su casa. You should feel important; we cleaned out the crack pipes just for you and Jamie." Lydia deadpanned as she turned and headed towards the house. "I'll show you Jamie's room first, that way you can put him down. Was he good on the car ride?"

"You bet." Haley said, following her mom through the door. She took a quick glance around, and noticed in horror how many boxes were now strewn around the house. She would have to unpack all of those. "I was actually really pleased."

"Any tantrums?" Lydia asked, gesturing at the stairs before starting up them.

"In Richmond he'd decided he'd had enough. He started running around the McDonald's we were at saying how he'd never get in the car again."

"How did you bribe him back in?" Lydia asked before stopping at a door at the very end of the hall.

"I told him we were going to Grandma's and how she blatantly ignores the no ice cream before dinner rule. It took him a grand total of five seconds before he was pushing me out the door." Haley admitted with a smile.

"I didn't know you knew about the ice cream thing." Lydia didn't even bother to look ashamed as she opened the bedroom door. "We told the kid it was Fight Club."

"Mom, he's five. He better not even know what that movie is." Haley laughed as she walked into the small bedroom. Her jaw dropped. The room was tiny but bright. The walls were light blue with a border of various cars wrapping around the top of the room, and her parents had gone through the trouble of unpacking most of Jamie's boxes. Haley held back a few tears as she looked around. While it was nothing fancy, she knew her parents had put in a lot of effort to make Jamie feel at home. Haley walked towards the little bed and set Jamie on it before taking off his shoes and tucking him in. "Thanks Mom, this is perfect."

"Anything for my Jamie Bear. It's a shame he isn't awake to hear me call him that, the kid would freak." Her mother laughed at the thought. "Now come on Haleybop, there's a lot more for you to see.

Her mother then showed her the rest of the house. It was about the size of the house she had grown up in, but here there was more open space while that house had more bedrooms. Her own bedroom was across from Jamie's, with yellow, floral wall paper that seemed to add character. The bed was the same white one that she'd used her entire childhood. She smiled as she surveyed the room, it took advantage of the natural light, like Jamie's did and she couldn't find herself to be at all disappointed. It was all very simple, but nice as well. She'd be sharing a bathroom with her parents and Jamie, but she didn't really mind. Haley had never been the type to really monopolize the mirror. She actually never had the option, growing up with two bathrooms and six siblings meant that you knew how to get in and get out fast.

"So, there's three things I probably should tell you." Lydia said once they were in the kitchen. Her mom had a slightly guilty look on her face. Haley knew she better prepare herself, why hadn't she seen this coming.

"What did you do Mom?" Haley groaned.

"Well first, we signed Jamie up for a peewee basketball team. We just thought that it might be nice for him to make some friends and get to have some fun that doesn't involve playing at the park and getting offered pot by teenage boys with nothing better to do." Lydia began and Haley sighed in relief. That wasn't too bad, actually sounded like a really good idea.

"That's great Mom, I'm sure Jamie will love it." Haley said honestly.

Lydia smiled in relief. "He'll be on a team with a couple of the neighbors' kids. There's Andre who lives about a block away and then there's Madison right next door. His first practice will be tomorrow afternoon. His coach is great, it's Nathan Scott who's the coach for the high school team and he is amazing with the kids from what I heard. I've actually known him for years. He actually helped us unload some of the boxes from the moving truck along with his brother, he's not bad on the eyes either, truth be told."

"I'm sure Jamie will have a lot of fun with that." Haley replied awkwardly. Her mother had a strange, hopeful look on her face and suddenly Haley felt like she was about to find out more about Nathan Scott whether she wanted to or not.

"He's also single Haley." Her mother added with a bright grin.

"And now the conversation gets interesting," Haley mumbled.

"He almost got drafted into the NBA too!"

"So did Damien and you saw how well that worked out?"

"Haley, he's—"

"Mom, don't." Haley warned with a sigh. "I'm just not ready yet."

"That's okay Sweet Pea, one look at Nathan Scott and you will be." Lydia quipped before trying to change the subject. "Well, he was the second thing. And third, well, um..."

"What is it Mom?" Haley asked with dread.

_"" _Lydia said quickly without a breath, Haley couldn't understand what her mom had just said.

Haley blinked in response.

"We may have bought Jamie a bunny rabbit." Her mom revealed innocently. "His name is Chester. He's got these floppy ears and Jamie will just love him." She gestured to a small cage in the corner of the kitchen that Haley hadn't noticed up until a minute ago. Damn if he wasn't the cutest bunny she had ever seen.

"Mom, we have a firm no pet's policy." Haley whined. "When Damien hears about this he's going to postal!"

"You also had wedding vows and he managed to ignore those." Her mother reminded, causing Haley to wince. She knew that her family and friends brought it up to show her ex's complete lack of decency, but it always made Haley feel uncomfortable. She'd come to terms with the fact that Damien was a grown man who made his own choices-whether they be right or wrong. But a small part of her always wondered if maybe she'd just never been enough. That if she had made more of an effort with their diminishing sex life or she'd listened more to what he was saying the whole situation could've been avoided. Haley shook her head before changing the subject back to the bunny, she'd deal with everyone's perceptions of her failed marriage later.

"Are you really sure about this? Jamie's not exactly old enough to be responsible for him." Haley tried to reason but her resolve was waning. Chester had gotten a hold of her heartstrings almost immediately with his cute, little, beady eyes.

"Nonsense, he's the same age you where when you got Bunny and that worked out just fine. Let the boy have the bunny." Lydia pleaded. Haley laughed when she saw her mother give her a variation of the same puppy dog look that Jamie was always trying to use on her. The sad part was that it was working. Slowly, Haley felt her resolved diminishing. Damien had been the one who disliked animals, and it wasn't like he was here anyway. Hell, he was giving Jamie a stepmom, and Haley wasn't allowed to give him a pet? That didn't seem fair.

"Alright," Haley finally agreed as she heard the front door open and loud footsteps thundering towards them.

"Haleybop!" Her dad exclaimed as he entered the kitchen and put down two bags labeled _Karen's Café_. He pulled her into a hug. "We were so worried about you."

"Mom told me." Haley smiled.

"There's something I probably should tell you." Her dad began guiltily while finally letting her out of the hug.

"Is it about the Bunny, The Basketball Team, or the Basketball Coach because Mom already covered all of those?" Haley laughed lovingly.

"Erm…none of the above," Her Dad smiled innocently; apparently her parents had been married long enough to give her the exact same look. If she didn't find the whole thing amusing, she probably would've been a little annoyed.

"What is it Dad?"

"Well… How do you feel about blind dating?" Her dad asked hopefully. Now this was more along the vein of what she had been expecting.

Haley blinked at him in disbelief. "Are you behind on drug money? Because if you want me to date your dealer, I'd rather just pay you rent."

"Oh Jimmy, our girl is funny. She gets it from me." Her mother beamed, being the only person on the planet who took pride when her children made jokes about drugs and sex.

Her father laughed appreciatively. "Genetic wit comes from me, Dear." He said to Lydia, giving her an impish smile. It was something Haley normally found adorable, that her parents could be so happy and light hearted around each other, but right now it was just outright annoying. "Haley, its not our dealer, we pay him in full; Karen at the café said that Nathan and Lucas had a bunch of friends around your age and I just thought—"

"Daddy," Haley whined. "Have we forgotten that up until this year I was filing married on my tax returns? I have only gone through one tax year as a single woman." She knew that her logic sounded ridiculous, but at the same time, she found the entire situation ridiculous.

"If it means that much to you, you could always file separately when you get remarried." Her mother suggested. "Besides, you should hold out for Karen to set you up with Nathan. The boy's a dream boat."

"Do you hear her?" Haley grumbled to her father, hoping for some kind of intervention.

"She's right Haley. He's a good looking kid. The team went undefeated last year until the playoffs too; he's one hell of a coach." Jimmy lost himself in thought for a moment, probably remembering the final basketball scores. Her dad had a man crush…on the same guy that her mom had an old lady crush on—great. Finally snapping out of his Nathan Scott-induced daze, Jimmy shrugged before giving his daughter a pacifying smile. "But if it means so much to you, I'll tell Karen not to set you up just yet."

"Thank you." Haley said seriously, hoping this would be the last time she had to hear about dating. She doubted it, but a girl couldn't help but hope. She turned to walk out of the room but just as she was about to shut the door, she heard her parents whispering conspiratorially.

"You think Nathan would be into Haley?" Her dad murmured. "'Cause if we can get them together than I could bring him to pickup basketball. Lydia, I'd never lose again!"

"Nice to know where your priorities are Jimmy," Her mother replied, and Haley felt relieved…until her mother started to speak again. "The real clincher is that we could probably get a discount at the Café. Where's your head?"

Haley sighed, her parents would never be normal.


End file.
